March 14, 2012

By Nicole Radzievich“, Of The Morning Call

Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII is negotiating for a 175,000-square-foot facility along Route 412.

Liberty Property Trust has filed plans for an 800,000-square-foot speculative building, one that would be built without a formal commitment from whoever ends up using it.

While Callahan didn’t have any job estimates on that building, he noted that a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse under way is expected to bring as many as 500 jobs once a tenant is signed.

Those three projects at LVIP, part of the 1,600-acre Bethlehem Commerce Center business park, represent about $120 million of private sector investment, he said.

“Much of it is speculative in that it is being built without tenants,” Callahan said. “It’s hard to imagine a stronger vote of confidence on the future of the city of Bethlehem.”

Callahan’s announcement came at his ninth State of the City address, which he gave at the Comfort Suites on the South Side. He spoke in front of more than 200 people at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce event.

Robert Kiel, senior vice president at Liberty Property Trust, said he expects the 800,000-square-foot building could employ 300-500 people, depending on the tenant. He said the building could be used for either warehousing, assembly, light manufacturing or pick-and-pack.

He said his company is focused on leasing the 1.2 million-square-foot facility before turning to the 800,000-square-foot project. The bigger project, scheduled to be completed in July, is the first speculative building that the company has built since 2007.

Kiel said there’s a reason the company chose to pitch two projects at LVIP VII.

“From a logistics standpoint, this is a great location — close proximity to Interstate 78,” said Kiel, who was not at the Chamber event.

LVIP President Kerry Wrobel said he could not disclose more details on the 175,000-square-foot warehouse project because the sale isn’t final. He described the use as warehousing or light assembly.

The two warehousing projects are among projects that are moving forward in the city as the economy slowly restarts.

Callahan’s PowerPoint presentation Wednesday flashed to several before and after slides, showing artist renderings and then photos of the SteelStacks campus and Sands casino hotel and mall. More, he said, is on the way.

One of the high-profile buildings his economic development team will start on this year will be the Steel General Offices, once Steel’s headquarters on E. Third Street. The building, owned by the Sands, has sat vacant for years, and city officials are studying it to pinpoint the amount of remediation needed and identify grants to accomplish it. Master plans have designated the building for residential use.

The city will also be launching a $500,000 revolving loan fund, administered by the Rising Tide Loan Fund, a subsidiary of the Community Action Development Corp. of the Lehigh Valley.

Callahan said he will also begin discussions with Norfolk Southern to create a rail-to-trail park, similar to the greenway that runs through the South Side.

Callahan also noted that the state will continue this year with the Route 412 expansion. With the Third Street ramp onto Route 378 completed, the state will focus on widening Route 412 to four lanes on the eastern end of the South Side, easing traffic congestion near the entrance to Commerce Center Boulevard.

nicole.mertz@mcall.com

610-778-2253

By Spencer Soper, OF THE MORNING CALL

March 12, 2011

The Great Recession wiped out about 20,000 jobs in the Lehigh Valley, and many of those left unemployed have started their own businesses rather than look for new jobs, local business officials say.

“We’ve seen quite a few people who lost jobs and started their own businesses,” said Frank Facchiano, executive vice president of member relations for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Those are the people who are not on the unemployment rolls. They’re the ones who aren’t dwelling on their problem. They’re the doers. They have all of the attributes you’d use to define entrepreneurs.”

If you’re thinking of starting your own business, there are a variety of resources available in the Lehigh Valley for networking, training and financing.

Lehigh Valley SCORE offers monthly workshops at Lehigh Carbon Community College about starting your own business. Each one draws 10 to 15 people.

“We’re seeing more and more people who are looking for alternative ideas because they’ve been out of work for some time,” said Jay Plotnick, a senior counselor with SCORE. “We also see people who are presently working, but their companies are turning them into independent consultants. So they are technically starting their own businesses.”

The industries range from barber shops and restaurants to Internet consulting and engineering. And those taking classes tend to be in the 45 to 50 year range.

At the workshops, retired executives with experience running businesses go over the importance of having a good business plan to access financing and how it’s important to find contract workers to handle tasks outside the business owner’s expertise. They also offer free counseling for people who have started their own businesses through a network of 50 local volunteers.

“When we show them all the research they need to do and all the work they have to do, about 50 percent decide they’re not going to go into business,” Plotnick said. “At least we prevented them from borrowing a lot of money from their house and losing their shirt.”

Financing for new businesses can be difficult to find in the recession’s wake.

The Rising Tide Community Loan Fund, administered by the nonprofit Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, aims to provide financing for businesses that would otherwise have trouble finding it.

The fund offers loans of up to $35,000 for start-ups and $75,000 for existing businesses, and demand has increased since the recession constricted access to traditional bank loans, said Chris Hudock, director of the Rising Tide Community Loan Fund. Increasingly, those seeking loans are people who have lost jobs and can’t find anything, he said.

“They don’t want to just sit and worry all day long about what’s going to happen next,” Hudock said. “A lot of them fall back on that dream they’ve always had of starting their own businesses.”

Since 2001, the fund has issued nearly $2 million in loans to 77 businesses. About $1 million in loans are outstanding. T

he businesses that have received loans include hair salons, restaurants, high-tech companies and book stores.

“A long term issue has always been that banks are not fond of start-up businesses,” Hudock said. “They want to see a track record. We also deal with people who don’t have a lot of collateral.”

Another resource for those looking to start their own businesses is the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, which has about 5,000 local members. The organization hosts network opportunities, training in various areas of business ownership and encourages its members to patronize one another.

“Self-employment is a double-edged sword,” Facchiano said. “The good part is nobody is there telling you when to work and the bad part is nobody is there telling you when to work.”

Spencer.soper@mcall.com

610-820-6694

Copyright © 2011, The Morning Call

Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:34 AM     Updated: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:54 AM

By Jeff Butz The Express-Times

Improve the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunity, the ability to pursue that opportunity, and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. This is the mission that has kept CACLV at the frontlines in the battle against poverty for over 45 years, and makes us a vital resource during these difficult economic times.

Charity is a pretty simple concept. You can give away food and you can hand out clothing. You can give someone a place to sleep and an occasional warm meal. But how do you give away equal economic opportunity? How do you hand out social justice?

Everyone goes through tough times, and we do provide those critical services to help struggling residents meet their basic needs. The Second Harvest Food Bank provides food assistance to more than 60,000 people each month. That’s CACLV. Then there is the Sixth Street Shelter, an Allentown family shelter, and Safe Harbor Easton, the homeless shelter and drop-in center for single men and women. They, too, are CACLV.

However, if we were to succeed at our mission, it would mean that we are building a future in which these services will no longer need to exist. CACLV has long been on the cutting edge of community problem-solving efforts in the Lehigh Valley, building community and economic development programs that aim to create wealth and encourage self-sufficiency. We empower our community members with the tools they need to improve their own situations, and we go after those who take advantage of the disadvantaged for their own personal gain.

We help to grow our local economy by assisting motivated potential business owners with the resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs through our Community Action Development Corporations in Allentown and Bethlehem. Hundreds of jobs have been created or saved by our Rising Tide Community Loan Fund, which has distributed over $2 million in loans to help local small businesses survive and thrive.

We were first responders to the mortgage foreclosure crisis and our Community Action Financial Services program helped hundreds of families stave off foreclosure. This program has also helped lower-income families buy their first homes with responsible financing to avoid future foreclosure and build financial assets. We fought unscrupulous lenders, broke up a fraud conspiracy in Allentown, and helped put three felons in jail.

We focus on neighborhood revitalization, job preparation, home weatherization, and education to build strong communities and encourage prosperity. And we are dedicated to responsible stewardship, doing it all with administrative costs at just 7.6% of our total budget.

CACLV is invested in Valley residents who are invested in themselves. While eliminating poverty is a lofty goal, we have to believe it is possible if we are all in this fight together. If you share in our desire to better our communities, please join us.

How to contact us:

Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, Inc.
1337 E. 5th Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Phone: 610-691-5620
Fax: 610-691-6582
E-mail: caclv@caclv.org
Web: www.caclv.org
Blog: www.caclv.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/caclv
Twitter: @CACLV

© 2011 lehighvalleylive.com. All rights reserved.

Great opportunity for information and networking for Lehigh Valley Entrepreneurs on March 20, 2012

SAVE THE DATE!

This FREE Event Will Feature Great Resources and Events to Help Lehigh Valley Entrepreneurs, Including:

• Lender to Business Match-Making Sessions
• Business Resources Expo
• Networking Opportunities

To register to participate, call Michael Kane at 610-382-3085 or e-mail to michael.kane@sba.gov providing your name, title, company, e-mail address, and phone number.

When:     March 20, 2012
Time:      5:00pm—9:00pm
Where:   ArtsQuest Center at Steelstacks
                   101 Founders Way
                   Bethlehem, PA 18015

For more information, click here to download the flyer.